policies

The 2015 edition examines what we think we know about environmental damage and the hidden threats to sustainability we need to recognize.

This paper considers the particular case of environmental policy where we are faced with pressures not only from deliberators and stakeholders, but also in response to dynamic changes in the environment itself.

This paper attempts to explore the historic impacts of forest politics and policy on social equity and ecology in Nepal’s Terai region. It is suggested that past forest politics and policies may continue to influence the forest bureaucracy in Nepal and, hence, shape present-day forest management in the Terai.

From the late 1950s onward, Helsinki experienced air pollution from energy generation, industries, waste incineration, and traffic. After having been at its worst in the late 1960s the air quality in Helsinki eventually improved remarkably. This paper examines the reasons for this environmentally advantageous outcome, which was achieved in the absence of a particularly successful environmental policy.

This film examines how a Swiss village profits from a corporation’s majority stake in Zambia’s copper resources, while Zambia remains one of the twenty poorest countries in the world.

This film reveals how the United States—after having dropped 67 nuclear bombs on the Marshall Islands during the Cold War—studied the effects of nuclear fallout on the native population.

This film examines how Mexico City—home to 22 million people—is trying to become water sustainable.

This article studies the aetiology underlying water management by exploring the social hermeneutics that determined its construction. It details how science, technology and political relations construct each other mutually, both producing and harnessing the scientific discourse on the environment.

The focus of this paper is on identifying some of the key elements of water policy and governance presented at the 5th IWHA Conference ‘Pasts and Futures of Water.’ The paper also explores the challenges and opportunities facing the international community for living up to the principles of democratic water governance in a context of increasing global uncertainty.

This editorial note introduces the four major conference themes of the 5th International Water History Association (IWHA) Conference ‘Pasts and Futures of Water’ in June 2007: (i) water, health and sanitation; (ii) water, food and economy; (iii) water and the city; and (iv) water governance and policy.